‘Staggering’ unemployment in Gaza a year after war: UN

GENEVA: More than a year into Israel’s war against Hamas, “nearly 100 per cent” of Gaza’s population has been plunged into poverty with a ruined economy and “staggering” unemployment, the United Nations said on Thursday (Oct 17).
In the occupied West Bank, where violence has also surged since Hamas’ Oct 7 attack last year that sparked the war in Gaza, the situation “has been equally concerning”, the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) said.
“The impact of the war in the Gaza Strip has taken a toll far beyond loss of life, desperate humanitarian conditions and physical destruction,” Ruba Jaradat, ILO’s regional director for Arab States, said in a statement.
“It has fundamentally altered the socioeconomic landscape of Gaza,” she warned. “The impact will be felt for generations to come.”
In the Gaza Strip, “nearly 100 per cent of the population now lives in poverty”, ILO said.
It warned that “the significant economic contraction in the West Bank is estimated to have more than doubled the short-term poverty rate, rising from 12 per cent in 2023 to 28 per cent by mid-2024”.
Unemployment in the West Bank surged to nearly 35 per cent since last October, “while in Gaza it averaged a staggering 79.7 per cent”, ILO said.
The agency said the wider economic toll had also been “unprecedented” across the occupied Palestinian territories.
The West Bank saw gross domestic product contract by 21.7 per cent year-on-year, while GDP in the Gaza Strip nosedived 84.7 per cent, it said.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after last year’s October attack by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures, including hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliation has killed at least 42,409 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which the UN considers reliable.
These figures also “reflect the shutdown of most economic activities in Gaza due to the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the recurring displacement of workers and employers”, ILO said.
“This has led either to complete termination of work or to a predominance of informal and irregular work.”
ILO said Gazans were also grappling with soaring prices, with year-on-year inflation reaching a whopping 248 per cent in August.
On Wednesday, the UN again warned of the risk of a full-blown famine in the besieged territory.
The situation is also increasingly dire in the West Bank.
“Israeli barriers to movement of persons and goods, coupled with broader trade restrictions and supply chain disruptions, have severely impacted the economy,” ILO said.
“The closure of the Israeli labour market to Palestinian workers has further strained livelihoods,” it added.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 738 Palestinians there in the past year, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
At least 24 Israelis, civilians or members of the security forces have meanwhile been killed in attacks carried out by Palestinian militants or in Israeli military operations in the West Bank over the same period, Israeli officials say.